A Girl for Me
by lezonne
Summary: Ernie always had a thing for Penelope, but then Susan catches his eye at the Yule Ball... Written for the Battle of the Houses number 9, the Pairing Diversity Challenge prompt #35 and the 1991 Challenge prompts #23 and 16.


Written for the _Battle of the Houses _number 9, the _Pairing Diversity Challenge _prompt #35 (purple) and the _1991 Challenge _prompts #23 and 16 (Ernie Macmillan and seventeen).

* * *

A Girl for Me

I always thought Penelope was rather beautiful to look at. Long curls, dark eyes, and an intellect that far exceeds my own- to say I'm taken with her would be an understatement. I'm positively smitten with her!

It doesn't help that I'm in my fourth year and she's a seventh year. Obviously she doesn't look in my direction whenever she's searching for suitable boyfriends or admiring the livestock of Hogwarts. Then there's Percy, who's constantly latched to her arm. I asked Ron about Percy once, to see if he would ever budge from his current girlfriend. He laughed.

That doesn't really deter my confidence. I'm very sure of myself, even if people sometimes doubt my abilities. But I have faith that I could at the very least get Penelope to notice me if I had the chance. Don't laugh- my fellow classmates do that enough as it is, saying I'm a fool to go after sometime three years older than me, especially someone who already has a girlfriend.

What can I say? I like to dream big. And Penelope is my biggest dream right now.

Around all the drama of the Tri-wizard Tournament and Harry Potter somehow getting himself picked alongside Cedric, I've been concocting ways to draw Penelope's attention. So far that keeps getting ruined by the fact that I'm so overly distracted by Harry. The guy has enough fame already. Couldn't he let someone else take center-stage, just for once? We Hufflepuff's never get any recognition.

"Hi Ernie," someone says, bounding up to me. I glance over my shoulder and notice Luna standing close to me. "You look a bit troubled."

"You could say that Luna. I have lots on my mind lately."

"About Harry and Cedric?"

Well, she's sort of close. I was puzzling over that for a minute. "Kind of."

"I see," she replies, looking around. "You're still mad at Harry, aren't you?"

"Do we really have to talk about that right now Luna?"

She shrugs. "I thought it might be a nice conversation starter."

I seriously want to tell her to look for more of those strange little creatures of hers and to leave me alone, but I don't. Luna isn't doing anything wrong, she just showed up while I wasn't in the best of moods.

"Never mind," I groan, completely ignoring the last thing I said. "I kind of need to focus right now Luna, so do you mind?"

She looks at the blank table before me with a curious eye before she shrugs, turns and bounds away again. The girl pauses in front of Neville, speaking to him now. He looks rather elated. It's no secret that Neville really likes her.

If only Penelope liked me. If I was a womanizer like some of the Slytherin's she'd at least know who I was. But I don't' think she knows my real name.

And I don't think I'd earn any respect in her book if I came off as a womanizer or a playboy. She isn't that type of girl, and I like that about her. She stays very true to herself.

Now if only that meant dating me, life would be perfect.

* * *

Well, she finally noticed me, but it's not quite for the reasons that I wish it was.

I kind of walked into her earlier today… and the ink I was carrying spilt all over her blouse. She didn't look very happy, and even though I apologized she didn't appear quite willing to accept my words. Sometimes it's hard to make progress with women.

Sometimes it's almost impossible. Now I have to apologize again and again for ruining her blouse while at the same time trying to convince someone who is seventeen that she should date me. But now that she's an adult though, I don't see that happening. People don't like adults and children dating.

Why did she turn seventeen? She should've remained sixteen until I turned sixteen too, and then we could've been together. Life would've been perfect.

But people keep aging, and it's awfully depressing. All I wanted to do was date her, and now she's basically out of my reach until I'm an adult too. Damn.

I think life hates me, just a little. It's totally unfair.

On the plus side, Cedric is still going strong and he hasn't died during a single challenge- none of the contestants have. Hufflepuff house has a chance of winning something yet. And Cedric actually has a decent chance in these games.

I'm so overly distracted with my own thoughts that I don't even notice when someone sits down beside me in transfiguration until she nudges me. Glancing over I notice that Susan decided to sit with me.

Now Susan is a beauty. She has long chestnut curls and these gorgeous eyes. Plus, she's actually my age too. Why didn't I go for someone like her?

"You're not really focused today are you?" she asked about ten minutes later when it was time to move onto actually practicing what we just learned. I blink, looking in her direction again.

"What do you mean?"

"McGonagall called on you and you didn't even respond. I nudged you and you just continued staring off into the distance deep in thought. She just decided to move on when you didn't respond."

"Really, I was that out of it?"

She nodded. "Yeah, you were. What were you thinking about so hard?"

"Nothing," I say quickly, watching her preform the spell. I best at least figure out what we're supposed to be doing. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"Is it about the upcoming Yule Ball? I'm so excited for it!"

Crap, the ball. I totally forgot. It's less than two weeks and I haven't even found myself a date!

"Oh yeah, exciting. Who are you going with?"

She shrugs, looking slightly embarrassed. "Well… I don't really know. No one's asked me yet."

I really want to ask Penelope, but now there's more than one reason why I can't do that. Not only does she have a boyfriend, but it's totally illegal for us to date. And I hadn't even considered other candidates.

Glancing at Susan as we work I note how sad she looks. Obviously she wants to go with someone, but no one's paying her any mind. Kind of like no one seems interested in me. Then again, I haven't really been paying attention since I'm focused on Penelope.

"Hey, would you like to come with me?"

She looks rather startled about my request, and her head snaps around so she can look at me. "Are you sure? You don't have someone special in mind?"

Well the special person I want to go with won't go with me, so I should take my friend. I can make her night special at the very least. "Nope. Besides, Hogwarts never has balls. You should be able to at least go with someone since this might never happen again while we're students here."

Susan smiles. "You're right. Of course I'll go with you Ernie. Wow! Now I have a reason to go, and to buy a dress."

I smile, returning to my work. Well, one of us will be happy that night anyway.

* * *

When I agreed to take Susan to the ball two weeks ago, I didn't realize she would go all out. Decked in purple, with a thin necklace of pearls she looks positively radiant. I haven't even noticed anyone else the entire night. I'm positively transfixed by her beauty.

I haven't even searched for Penelope once tonight. I'm having way too much fun with my date, who has all of my attention. Susan really is something beautiful.

I didn't mean to kiss her only halfway through the night, but it just happened. And when she responded I almost forgot who Penelope was. Penelope might be a beautiful person who I like, but she'll never seriously consider me. Susan though? That's a different story.

I might actually be able to have a relationship with sweet Susan- something that will probably shock the entire population. We're pretty different, but I'm drawn to her like fire to wood. I can't get over her.

At the end of the night we walk back to our common room hand in hand, my fingers rubbing her skin lightly. She looks so pleased and content that it makes my heart swell.

I'm so happy that I ended up taking Susan to the ball. It's one of the best decision I've made to date. And before I send her off to bed that night I give her one final kiss, ignoring the looks a few people send out way.

"Night Susan. Breakfast tomorrow?"

"I think so," she agrees, lightly blushing at our public kiss. She picks up her skirt and hurries upstairs, out of sight. My heart flutters as she leaves.

Penelope might not be the girl for me, but maybe Susan is. Now I have someone new to set my sites on, someone I actually have a chance with.

And I think she might like me back.

_~FIN~_


End file.
